//Renovation proposed for Huguenot Mill exterior

Renovation proposed for Huguenot Mill exterior

The historic mill building that serves as the premier event space at the Peace Center may soon be getting a makeover.

Architect Adam Berry of Craig Gaulden Davis and Peace Center Chief Financial Officer Scott Clark have revealed plans for Huguenot Mill to add a new door, new glass canopies over entry doors and an entirely renovated and expanded entryway plaza for the structure.

The plans were submitted to the City’s Design Review Board on Nov. 2 and were approved earlier this month.

View the plans

The facade of the building at 101 West Broad St. at the corner of South Laurens Street would be the focal point of the renovation. The current entryway, which features a set of steps bordered by planters leading down into the double-door entrance, would be expanded significantly. A stone plaza would stretch out to the right, with expanded seated, landscaping, planters and a secondary entry point into the building’s lobby.

The fritted glass canopy that is planned to cover the entrance would be similar to that of the main concert hall.

It wouldn’t be the first time the building, which sits behind what is now Larkin’s on the River, has seen an upgrade. Originally constructed in the spring of 1882, the structure was the third mill on the downtown stretch of the Reedy River. It was the first mill in the state of South Carolina to manufacture plaids.

Related: The pioneering Huguenot

“Its creative output included over 20 different plaid patterns with new ones being added almost weekly,” writes John Nolan, owner of Greenville History Tours. “Furthermore, its colored yarns were woven rather than stamped like many of its competitors’ fabrics. Within its first year, the mill’s 150 operatives were making almost 10,000 yards of fabric per day.”

Uniquely, despite its location on the shore of the Reedy, the mill did not rely on the river for its power, according to Nolan. Instead it pioneered the use of steam to run its 220 looms.

“Electric lights illuminating its dark interior spaces were another pioneering aspect of the mill,” Nolan writes. “Word of the Huguenot’s innovative success reached Northern newspapers, with the Detroit Free Press in 1883 declaring, ‘Yankee enterprise must get up early in the morning to beat Greenville.’”

The mill closed in 1908 under economic turbulence and went on to house Nuckasee Manufacturing, Carolina Blouse and Ruth Fashions, before becoming the event space it is today.

“Visitors continue to appreciate the handmade bricks, massive beams and wood floors that have been a part of Greenville for 183 years,” Nolan writes.

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